This project examines policing of the “crimes” of vagrancy (usually young “suspicious” men), begging (often women with children), abortion, and “offenses against morality” (particularly female sex workers and homosexual men) in Pinochet’s Santiago (1973-1998). Chile’s civic-military dictatorship ended in 1990, but the presence of Pinochet in public life, a lack of police reforms, and a legislative reform process that stretched out over the decade, meant that in terms of day-to-day policing there were elements of continuity between Santiago under military rule and Santiago during the “long transition”. The research is based largely on case files held in Santiago’s Judicial Archive.
The project was supported by the Fondo Millas of the Universidad Andrés Bello (2017-2018).
The first published material is a forthcoming article on the policing of begging in the Journal of Latin American Studies.
leith passmore 